MOST HELPFUL POSTS

Denikka - posted on 06/22/2013

2,160

5

749

I had frequent problems with ear infections when I was young, and I was also an avid swimmer. The best thing you can do is to just dry his ears when he gets out of the pool. I found using a piece of cotton cloth (like t-shirt material) works best.Take your little finger and place the cloth over it, Basically have your child tilt his head and, using the cloth, stick your finger in his ear (that's pointing down) VERY gently. Wiggle your finger slightly, you can also rub gently in the softer spot just behind the earlobe. Change finger location on the cloth to a dry spot and repeat until the cloth comes away dry. Have him tilt his head the other way and do the same with the other ear.Realistically, the ear should drain itself naturally, but, coming from personal experience, sometimes it doesn't. And earaches are excruciating.If he does end up with an ear ache from the pool, there are a bunch of things that you can try at home. What worked best for me was to put a couple drops of warm baby or mineral oil, or warm water into the ear that was painful and let that sit for a few minutes with that ear pointed up. Give it 5 minutes or so, then tilt the head the other way so that the liquid drains out and place the ear down on a warm (hot if possible), moist cloth. Stay that way for at least 10 minutes. It should help relieve a large chunk of the pain. Then encourage him to lay on a pillow (preferably with a warm cloth) as much as possible for a couple of hours with the painful ear against the pillow.If he can sleep, even better. It really does help :)Obviously, if that doesn't help or if the earache isn't completely gone by the next day (at the LATEST. Mine never lasted more than a couple hours), you're probably dealing with an actual infection instead of water in the ear and antibiotics will probably be needed :)